Andy Burnham (soon to be the new #UK Prime Minister) talks about change. But his first senior hire comes from the same #Apple #Amazon #Google world that already shapes UK policy from inside. If that’s what “break from the past” looks like, the past is still running the place. #BigTech #Capture

Burnham’s pick for chief of staff led firm that advised BP, Apple and Amazon

Appointment of James Purnell, former chief executive of Flint Global, described by one Labour MP as ‘very bad sign’

theguardian.com

If you are attending this event organised by @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social & @ucl.ac.uk, don't miss our colleague Isa Stasi! She's talking about policy dimension and discussing weaknesses and strengths of the 'system', especially for NGOs that want/are trying to play role #BigTech #Competition

Private Enforcement of Competition Law at the Digital Crossroads (II)

A one day conference organised by UCL & Kings College London

ucl.ac.uk

Another good decision in #RightToProtest case against #Serbia from @echr.coe.int today. The Court rightly held that protest coinciding with #China President visit can't be banned on speculative “public safety” and “what might happen” risks. Article 11 requires real evidence, not speculation.

Great to see #Budapest #Pride will proceed this year without policy instructions. But media should be aware that in a democracy, police have no business "approving" assemblies! Those wishing to assemble should not be required to obtain "permission" to do so🌈 #Hungary #HumanRights #RightToProtest

Hungarian police approve Budapest Pride in break from Orbán era

Policy U-turn comes after rightwing nationalist government was swept from power in April after 16-year rule

theguardian.com

Arresting journalists covering protests is now live global pattern. So good to see @echr.coe.int decision today in Tožičková vs #CzechRepublic about reporter in environmental protest, finding #freespeech violation. Remove the journalist from a protest and you remove the story in public interest!

Most days we’re posting policy reports. Today, we’re agreeing with a papal encyclical on #AI. On AI, #HumanRights and corporate power, the #Pope is saying what we’ve been saying all along: #technology must serve people, not the other way around. We’ll take allies where we find them! #ExCathedraAI

We're still talking about #RightsCon cancellation one month later. Not because we are missing conference lanyards but because it exposed #China transnational repression and how fragile international civic spaces have become as result #Zambia More in the interview for @civicusalliance.bsky.social

TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION: ‘China Feels Emboldened to Globalise Its Political Red Lines’

CIVICUS discusses the cancellation of RightsCon 2026 with Barbora Bukovská, Senior Director for Law and Policy at ARTICLE 19, a human rights organisation that works on freedom of expression and inform...

globalissues.org

Good news but it shouldn't be blocked because of procurement rules breach and 'value for money No 1 question is whether public institutions & Met Police should partner with companies like #Palantir, linked to mass #surveillance, discriminatory policing, military occupation & #humanrights violations

London mayor Sadiq Khan blocks £50m Met police deal with Palantir

Exclusive: Scotland Yard had been in talks to use Palantir’s AI technology to automate intelligence analysis

theguardian.com

Deeply moving defence of #FreeSpeech from EVERYONE involved! Tommy Robinson's anti-migration march yesterday, attempting “serious political moment”, got visually upstaged by a rented projector. See how clicking on link 👇 Thank you, @ledbydonkeys.org #UK #Protest #CounterProtest #HumanRights

Instagram

Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

instagram.com

Check our latest report which examines how governments and companies pressure #DNS providers to remove sites, often without clear rules or oversight. The report demystifies DNS abuse and shows how we can ensure the DNS isn't used as #censorship tool #FreeSpeech #HumanRights #InternetInfrastructure

The DNS must enable expression – not silence it  - ARTICLE 19

ARTICLE 19’s new report demystifies DNS abuse and shows how we can ensure the DNS is not used to silence voices.

article19.org

Our reaction to the decision of #Zambia Government to "postpone" (meaning cancel) #RightsCon2026. Also includes a call on UNESCO and participating states in #UNESCO #WPFD2026 in this context. #FreeSpeech #FreeAssembly #HumanRights www.article19.org/resources/za...

Zambia: RightsCon cancellation is a blow to freedom of expression - ARTICLE 19

The Zambian government's cancellation of global digital rights conference RightsCon is a direct attack on freedom of expression and assembly.

article19.org

Huge congrats to Bulgarian Helsinki Committee & Krassi Kanev on today's win in Strasbourg. The Court found #Bulgaria violated European Convention (art 8). Secret surveillance needs real oversight. Rubber-stamp judicial review & nominal safeguards won’t cut it. Strong addition to the Court’s case-law

Who is coming to #RightsCon? Here is what we at ARTICLE 19 will be doing there www.article19.org/resources/jo... Hope we can connect with many of you! #FreeSpeech

Join ARTICLE 19 at RightsCon 2026! - ARTICLE 19

The 14th edition of RightsCon, the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age, gets underway next week in Lusaka, Zambia. Between 6 – 8 May ARTICLE 19 will be hosting and participating ...

article19.org

Congrats to our fearless colleague Maria Luisa Stasi on this major progress in class action against Microsoft. It is also a case to watch for all legal eagles here. #Microsoft #ClassAction #HumanRights #Cloud

Microsoft must face $2.8 billion UK lawsuit over cloud computing licences

Microsoft must face a mass lawsuit alleging it overcharged thousands of British businesses to use Windows Server software ​on cloud computing services provided by Amazon, Google and Alibaba, a ‌London...

reuters.com

👨‍⚖️ Case to watch 🔍 Next week, #Italy highest court will hear the case of Fabio Butera and decide whether #journalists can be punished for things they never wrote. We warn that holding journalists liable for third‑party comments is backdoor to censorship and harassment. #FreeSpeech #MediaFreedom

Italy: Journalist must not be liable for third party social media comments - ARTICLE 19

A court in Italy must rule in favour of freedom of expression, ensuring that social media users are not held liable for third-party comments.

article19.org

It's been 5 years since our colleague and friend Andrei Aliaksandrau was imprissoned in #Belarus for his defence of freedom of expression and #HumanRights. Andrei never gave up and neither should we. We continue to demand his release & of all political prisoners in Belarus. Pls join this campaign!

Belarus: Free Andrei and all political prisoners - ARTICLE 19

On the fifth anniversary of journalist and activist Andrei Aliaksandrau's imprisonment we call for the release of all political prisoners.

article19.org

Great article by @davidakaye.bsky.social in @techpolicypress.bsky.social exposing lies that #EU is censoring Americans. In reality, regulators are going after #BigTech for breaking competition and privacy laws. Calling that “censorship” is a way to dodge the real issue. Unchecked corporate power.

The Trump Lie About Europe and Why it Matters | TechPolicy.Press

The Trump administration is promoting disinformation about European law and policy for reasons that go well beyond social media regulation, writes David Kaye.

techpolicy.press

Important development The EU is asking Grok to retain the records. It may have already produced illegal sexual content and cannot be trusted to keep the evidence intact. We do not need to talk about future risks of AI, in many instances, harm is already done. #AI #EU #HumanRights #DataRetention

Brussels wants X to keep all documents about Grok until the end of 2026

The European Commission has ordered social media platform X to retain all internal documents and data about chatbot Grok at least until the end of 2026. A spokesperson for the Commission announced thi...

europeannewsroom.com

Our statement on the USA military action in #Venezuela. We warn it'll lead to further escalation of repression, esp for human rights defenders, independent & political activists. Plus, US disinfo spin distorts facts, threatens #FreeSpeech, #journalism & #democracy & silences debate region-wide.

USA: Venezuela and its democratic future belong to its people - ARTICLE 19

The US military attack on Venezuela and capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife violates international law and impedes a democratic transition.

article19.org

Seems #Ireland has discovered the best way to regulate Big Tech is to… let #BigTech do it. It appointed a former Meta lobbyist as Data Protection Commissioner. With 43 organisations, we wrote to the Gov to reconsider and pick someone with #dataprotection expertise, through a transparent process

Ireland: Adopt new, transparent process to appoint Data Protection Commissioner - ARTICLE 19

Data Protection Commissioner has responsibility as lead supervisory authority for many of the world’s largest technology companies.

article19.org

They say #democracy needs a shield and the #EU needs to do more to reclaim its #sovereignty. But the EU can’t build digital sovereignty without giving real support to the people actually defending democracy! Check our article for @techpolicypress.bsky.social on this very issue 👇 #FreeSpeech

Civil Society is the Democracy Shield Europe Can’t Ignore | TechPolicy.Press

Barbora Bukovská and Mark Dempsey ask how can Europe build a democratic future when civil society in Europe and beyond is facing an existential moment?

techpolicy.press

In case you missed this, we're taking on Apple & challenging its stranglehold on iPhones and iPads. We'sre asking @ec.europa.eu to stop Apple from ignoring #DMA rules so smaller companies can compete fairly. And that people can choose which apps and services they want For more info check 👇

Digital Markets Act: Apple impedes interoperability and user choice - ARTICLE 19

Apple must fulfil its obligations on interoperability and give users real choice over the apps and app stores they want on their devices.

article19.org

Folks at Tech Policy Press have launched an 'Ideas for Europe’s Future' series! As part of it, they will be publishing perspectives from leading experts who joined out Future of Democracy event @openmarkets.bsky.social Read @ramshajahangir.bsky.social's great write up & stay tuned for more

Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · 10mo ago

“Enforcing laws is keeping the promises you gave,” EU's former competition chief Margrethe Vestager said at a conference in Brussels this week. Tech Policy Press is publishing an "Ideas for Europe’s Future" series to explore how Europe can act decisively.

In her talk in the @europarl.europa.eu about future of #dmocracy & #FreeSpeech, @mariaressa.bsky.social reminded us that she found Mark Zuckerberg to be a bigger dictator than Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines. And rightly so! #BigTech #Dictatorship #Meta

When talking about #AI, let's stop talking about AI "hallucination". We are talking about predictive algorithms. So we should call it what it is. The term to use is ERROR. #IndustryManipulation #BigTech

Day 2 of our Future of Democracy with @openmarkets.bsky.social! Follow along to hear from Nobel Peace Prize winner @mariaressa.bsky.social, @alexandrageese.bsky.social, Mira Milosevic, @dimi.wikimedia.brussels, @courtneyr.bsky.social + ARTICLE 19's Quinn McKew www.youtube.com/live/vZTwYPS...

Thanks to everyone who followed our event yesterday and huge thanks to Commissioner @michaelmcgratheu.bsky.social for coming and his support.

ARTICLE 19@article19.bsky.social · 10mo ago

‘Informed and engaged public is the best defence against the challenges faced by our democracy’ EU Commissioner @michaelmcgratheu.bsky.social on how community, strong civil society and independent media are key to protecting and sustaining democracy.

100% agree with this!

Open Markets Institute@openmarkets.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Roger McNamee: "Big Tech wants you to believe that LLMs are inevitable. But you have the power to say no. There are valuable use cases for LLM, but there aren't that many compared to the money being put on them." 📺 www.youtube.com/live/KlO8ta8... #DigitalSovereignty #FreeSpeech

Powerful words from Margrethe Vestager, on the role that competition plays in defending and reinforcing democracies and rights. "We want to stand up to the bully and hold power to account. That is what people understand and that is the story of competition enforcement." @openmarkets.bsky.social